• @[email protected]
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    57 hours ago

    I start pronouncing it yiff whenever someone complains. Eventually they beg me to say it how I want to say it.

  • Asa
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    98 hours ago

    okay Jraphics Interchange Format

    • @[email protected]
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      20 hours ago

      (Pronounced with a hard G) ::: this has been another episode of “Explain The Joke Peter”! :::

  • @[email protected]
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    117 hours ago

    Linearity uses LASER ARGUMENT!

    LASER is actually an acronym that stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” however it is widely pronounced as “lazer”.

  • Signtist
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    101 day ago

    I always felt like this was a weird argument. Language is always in flux. It’s why the definition of “literally” now includes a definition that it’s a synonym of “figuratively” since people used it that was so much.

    If enough people think gif should be pronounced like “god”, then it should. If the “jif” pronunciation has enough people who use it, then that’s valid, too. Hell, if a bunch of people started legitimately saying it should be a homonym with the word “plankton,” even that’d be valid.

    Words are about conveying meaning; the same meaning is intended with both pronunciations, and understood by the people hearing it. There’s nothing to argue about.

    • @[email protected]
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      19 hours ago

      I think most people who argue this either way aren’t actually serious about it. You do have solid points, however.

      Regardless, I will continue to argue about this point (opposite of whatever side whoever I’m talking to is taking) until it feels more annoying than fun to me.

    • @[email protected]
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      112 hours ago

      I bet people have always argued about language like this and people have been killed over some pronunciation before. Ce la vie?

    • @[email protected]
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      1018 hours ago

      the “literally means figuratively now” argument is stupid, saying it in non literal scenarios is used as hyperbole. You would never say “I’m figuratively dying of thirst”

      • @[email protected]
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        15 hours ago

        I have literally said “I’m figuratively dying of thirst” but im also a massive smart ass.

      • Signtist
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        015 hours ago

        I wasn’t trying to discredit the validity of its use, I was trying to say that it’s valid specifically because it’s used. It doesn’t matter if you want to say “I’m figuratively dying of thirst.” or “I’m literally dying of thirst.” since they convey the same meaning, and are interpreted as such by the listener.

    • @[email protected]
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      218 hours ago

      Yeah, I dont care how people pronounce it. It’s when people get serious and militant on how it should be pronounced where I just laugh at them.

    • @[email protected]
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      421 hours ago

      Gif is a proper noun and a computer product. It’s not a simple word like “arse”. This would be like people saying Nike should be pronounced “Nick” and the company “Nike” is yelling “no it’s Nike! Like the god!” And people are just like, “nah I don’t care what you want your company to be called, I’m calling it something else.”

      • @[email protected]
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        619 hours ago

        If enough people pronounce it differently, then it’s a valid way to pronounce it.

        It doesn’t matter if it’s a proper noun, the word is still meant to convey meaning and as long as it effectively does that for the population in general, it’s valid.

        • @[email protected]
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          012 hours ago

          We’ve solidly been talking about English this whole time, since the entire basis for the pronunciation is that it’s a play on an English advertisement “choosy developers choose gif”. I’m not going to argue with other languages. Just like with the dude that is pulling out Ancient Greek, if anyone still speaks that they yeah they can pronounce Nike differently, otherwise it’s a translation to English.

          • @[email protected]
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            311 hours ago

            Even English doesn’t have one size fits all rules. Language is social and regional. If one English speaking country pronounces zebra as “zee-bra” and another pronounces it as “zeh-bra” they’re both right.

          • @[email protected]
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            09 hours ago

            In English the word “Island” has an ‘s’ in it. This was originally done by someone purposely adding the ‘s’ to make the word look more Latin, even though the English word “eiland” has no Latin root.

            So if the original intended usage matters I hope you also correct everyone who uses “island” and tell them “you know it’s spelled eiland right?”

      • @[email protected]
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        319 hours ago

        and the company “Nike” is yelling “no it’s Nike! Like the god!”

        So in this example, are they yelling it like their namesake is actually pronounced ( [niː́kɛː] , the i like in “flee”, the e like in “bad”), or in the english pronounciation (i like in “die”, e like in “flee”)?

        • @[email protected]
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          012 hours ago

          Oh good! Someone that thinks there’s multiple ways to pronounce it. Thankfully wiktionary only has a single IPA pronunciation for both the shoe and the brand and they’re the same. ˈnaɪkiː. Though I do appreciate you pulling out the Ancient Greek pronunciation as a “gotcha”.

              • @[email protected]
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                16 hours ago

                Generally “sane” people just stop talking to people they do not wish to hear from. When you don’t reply to people they tend to not reply back.

                Talking to someone in order to say you don’t want to talk to them is…

  • @[email protected]
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    501 day ago

    Jod made the Jiraffes and the Giraffes and they were best friends. But then one Jiraffe found God and he spited Jod and all the Giraffes with all his might.

    • @[email protected]
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      191 day ago

      I’ll just post my comment from when I ran across this on lemmy before

      I’ll tell the agile fragile fugitive gin-drinking giraffes eating ginger ginseng to imagine gingerly using their digits to engineer a geological survey of the gist of your comment. They ate too much gingerbread and now have gingivitis, so the margins of those attracted to religion aren’t as rigid as the original origins of those of that region and we have to remain vigilant lest magic supersede logic, which of course would be terrible for legislation of the legions.

      • @[email protected]
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        1320 hours ago

        Nice gimmick. Counterpoint: this GIF of some giggly git giving a gilt gizzard and a large haggis to a giddy girl named Gidget. (GIF omitted because I made it tf up). Incidentally, not a single one of your examples included “gi” followed by “f”.

        Incidentally, I pronounce it “jif”, I just think appealing to English as if it had actual rules is insane.

        • @[email protected]
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          315 hours ago

          Yeah I pulled it out originally because I was tired of people saying that “gi” is almost always hard g, and I don’t think the lack of f makes a difference (because English spelling rules are silly, like you say. In the other thread I mentioned that just because the word “women” exists we don’t pronounce every “wom” sequence with a short i sound).

          • @[email protected]
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            311 hours ago

            Not everyone pronounces “women” with a short i sound, it’s regional and there are no arguments about the “proper” pronouciation. The word is clearly understood either way so it doesn’t matter.

            • @[email protected]
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              18 hours ago

              Yeah of course “proper” doesn’t really mean anything when talking about idolects. I’m curious though–I’ve been trying to get more information about the /wʊmən/ pronunciation for awhile. Do you know what region it’s common to? That pronunciation doesn’t show up in any dictionary (or at least any American one) except wiktionary and whenever I search for it there’s not much info about it. I’m trying to figure out if it’s regional or a more recent trend spread across a younger group online or something.

          • @[email protected]
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            212 hours ago

            Lmao, idk why anyone would claim that either. Re: the other part, I also don’t think there’s any inherent reason the “f”, but in my sleepy haze writing this last night I wasn’t able to think of an example with the soft “g” followed by “if”. I feel like it must exist but I’m too tired to find it.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 day ago

        Would that by any chance have cast a young Steve Buscemi?

        Sounds great, to be honest (Frasers shitty default face and one eyebrow was always off-putting)